TAPPLE

Ever get a gift card from a student and not sure what to spend it on?  Several of my students gave me cards for Teacher Appreciation Week, and one was a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble.  I absolutely adore B & N, but the possibilities for purchases were just too many!  I ended up getting the game TAPPLE.

What is TAPPLE?  Here is a much more concise description from Amazon than I could put into words myself:
"Choose a category card and start the timer on the TAPPLE wheel. In just 10 seconds, name a word matching the category, press the first letter of that word on the wheel, tap the button to reset the timer, and pass it along. Letters already pressed may not be used again, so the pressure mounts! Can’t think of a word in time, you’re out for the round. The player that collects the most cards wins!"

I brought it out for my third through fifth grade students for the last few days of school.  It gets harder and harder to find engaging games for my older students, and this did a great job of meeting many language goals for my students while also being a quick and fun reinforcer for my students who would practice their goals a set number of times and then we played a round of TAPPLE.  It is really easy to explain the game to students, there is basically nothing to set it up, and you don't have to keep score-  just add up the cards collected at the end to determine a winner.

I would not typically get a game with a bookstore gift card, but I knew I could use it for a lot of groups and in more ways than a hardcover book.  My biggest compliant with brick and mortar stores is that the majority of books they carry are hardcover and really expensive!  I always look for getting the most use for the money I spend, and sometimes that means a game instead of a book. 

What are some of your favorite go-to games?